Austin 3M Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Austin, TX

Sunday, January 21

Half Marathon #195

Weather - Cold!

Months ago, I saw that a few of my Texas friends (from running Banff) were running the 3M half marathon. I ran back in 2011 and didn't remember hating it. I checked to see if Ariel wanted to join for a weekend, and once she said yes, I registered and booked flights. I had stayed at Heather's house the night before and we had plans to leave around 5:30 am so we could stop to get coffee at Dunkin.

Alarm was set for 5:10 am. I hadn't slept wonderfully, but I'd had the sense to lay everything out the night before so I was ready to go on time. Sadly, Dunkin wasn't open, but McDonald's was, so we got coffee there. We stopped to pick up Heather's friend Rachel on the way to the start line - and she brought breakfast burritos! Even though I had already eaten my waffle, a burrito sounded good, so I ate that too.

We parked at the Sam's Club nearby and sat in the car until maybe 6:40? 6:45? We had just enough time to go through the (incredibly organized) bathroom line, and then it was basically time to jump into the corral. My last road half marathon was Space Coast in 2021(??) so I had no idea what pace I'd be capable of. 

For whatever reason, the winter is hitting me harder this year, and I bailed on almost all of my speed work, so I was VERY optimistic when I jumped in around 2:15 pace group. I was planning on listening to the Eras Tour setlist, and got my headphones ready. One quick picture of the start line, and off we went!

Mile 1 was consumed with the fact that my headphones were encountering MAJOR interference. I have never had this happen that I can remember, so maybe this is just the biggest road race I have done and someone else's Bluetooth was somehow messing with it. IT WAS SUPER ANNOYING, but I dealt with it and after maybe 10 minutes it went away. In that time I also tossed the long sleeve throwaway Heather had given me - it lasted all of 7-8 minutes. I was very glad I had worn thin long sleeves and gloves, although I did play the "I'm hot, wait, no, I'm cold" game quite a bit.

This course boasts "Downhill to Downtown" - yet I hadn't remembered that from when I ran before. I had looked at the elevation profile from my Garmin and I thought it had much more gain, and couldn't remember any of it once I started running, except for mile 12 being the hilliest.

I literally didn't look at any race information, but I assumed there would be aid stations every few miles, and I planned on walking through all of them. The second aid station ran in front of Austin Beerworks, which I doubt existed 13 years ago.

I took electrolyte (was it Nuun? I have no idea) at every stop, and sometimes water. I was running a lot faster than I expected, but I was zoning out to Taylor Swift and trying to keep an eye out for Mel, Crystal and anyone else I might know. I almost forgot I had even brought nutrition, but then I saw a girl next to me take a gel, so I decided to eat my applesauce. Yay, fuel. I ended up taking a gel at mile 7ish (ewwww, cold salted watermelon GU). Actually, I think I only ate half of it, then I had a gag reflex to thankfully there was water after. Mistake on my part. I don't know why I still think I can eat those. I remembered the liquor table from the last time, and sure enough, they were back! I can't remember what mile this was, maybe 8? I took the one next to the tequila, because I definitely did NOT want that. Turns out I grabbed bourbon. Which wasn't much better, but I didn't throw up, so that was good.

I was still feeling surprisingly good, and my overall pace was still under 10 minutes! (Which is INSANE). I definitely was zoning out and mainly just trying not to trip over curbs, but overall their roads are in much better shape than Denver's. Before I knew it, we were on the UT campus, which meant we were close!

I was consistently about a tenth of a mile over on my watch, but I pushed the last few miles and had enough oomph left to get up the hills, which a LOT of people did not! I cruised through the uphill finish with my best time since 2018! (And I probably top 20-25% EVER), so I was VERY pleased.

Official Time - 2:10:48

Official 5k - 30:50

Official 10k - 101:50

Official 15k - 1:33:24

Overall Place - 2727/4720

Division Place - 147/303 (top half, wooo!

Garmin Time - 2:10:51

Garmin Distance - 13:22

Garmin Pace - 9:54

Mile 1 - 10:07

Mile 2 - 9:47

Mile 3 - 9:43

Mile 4 - 9:48

Mile 5 - 9:55

Mile 6 - 9:49

Mile 7 - 10:04

Mile 8 - 10:03

Mile 9 - 10:03

Mile 10 - 10:07

Mile 11 - 9:58

Mile 12 - 9:42

Mile 13 - 9:42

Mile 13.1 - 9:11 pace

I did a quick selfie trying to get my full outfit. In retrospect, should've just asked someone to take my picture, but oh well.

Since I've only had Strava since 2014 (?) - it's pretty impressive that in TEN YEARS, this was my second fastest half!!

Can you find my name?

I followed the signage to get my drop bag. I was already getting cold since I sweat so much. I had last minute thrown my R1 in my bag so that I would have a long sleeve top, jacket AND joggers in my bag. I walked over near the capital to add my layers.

I figured I would hang out in the beer garden to wait for Heather and Rachel. There was only ONE heater in the whole area and I have to say that my layers basically did NOTHING. By the time Mel texted to find out where I was, I was soooo cold. I felt really badly for people that hadn't brought enough clothes!

I ran over to the finish line so that we could watch them finish. Once they crossed we were out of there pretty quickly.

Thoughts:

• VERY chilly for Texas. but that meant perfect running weather for me! I was still sweating even though it was in the 30's. 
• Medal is awesome!! 30 spins and so does the star in the center! 
• Race was relatively expensive (I paid $140), but they were doing registration at the expo for only $79, which is pretty good for a city race that's point to point and requires a lot of police and road closures.
• I didn't like the shirt and gave it away, but with the 3M sponsorship, the rest of the swag is fun.
• Would I run again? Sure, it's not too much money since I have friends/family..

Week in Review (January 16 - January 22)

Tuesday (14,326 steps) - Work in the office. Technically a rest day, so only did the treadmill desk. I got home from work and there was a lot of activity happening around the couch. Turns out Batman and Robin found (yet another) mouse! Ben wasn't home yet so it was either trust the cats wouldn't "lose" this one, or take care of it myself. I managed to trap it under a plastic container, then slid a piece of cardboard under and took it outside. Dumb mice :(

Took Olive for a walk.

Wednesday (17,452 steps) - Work in the office and treadmill desk. Headed home after work and picked up Olive so we could go to Roost Boulder run club. We did an easy road run - Olive really enjoyed diving in the snow.

We stuck around for a film - "Dreama Team" - it was pretty good! (Although it does drive me nuts when really talented athletes pen themselves as "hobby" runners - eyeroll). I won the first raffle, which was a pair of Hokas. Unfortunately 1). they were not the Techtons that I hoped to get for Ben and 2). they were actually demo shoes, not new ones. Well, maybe he will wear them, maybe not.

Thursday (12,116 steps) - Had to go into the office because we had a mandatory staff meeting. At least I got my steps in on the treadmill desk. Headed out after the meeting and had to go directly to Big O because I have YET ANOTHER TIRE LIGHT ON. They got me in pretty quick and it thankfully was not actually another flat. Took Olive for a walk after I got off work. Finished my packing and was able to once again fit everything in my tiny backpack. 

Friday (12,205 steps) - Took the day off since Ariel and I were going to be leaving. I got me and Ben Dunkin Donuts and took Olive for a longer walk.

Our flight was at 2:30, so Ben drove us to the airport around noon. There was no line at security, so we were pretty early. Ariel and I walked around and I took her outside to the patio since she had never been there. Our flight was delayed, but we made up most of the time and landed only about 10 minutes late. Lisa picked us up and we went to her house - isn't it cute with the blue door?

Lisa had picked up free food from leftovers at work, so we made our own plates of nachos. Delicious!

We decided to watch a scary movie and settled on "It Comes at Night." It seemed like it was a little slow and then it just... ended. Time we will never get back.

Ariel petting Sven's paws

Had trouble falling asleep :(

Saturday (10,372 steps) - Didn't really sleep in, but it wasn't as early as I feared. Had a few cups of coffee and put off doing my shakeout run. Finally figured I would head out and get maybe 20 minutes of running in. It was colder than I expected and I was definitely cold! Lisa suggested I do loops around the pond by her house. The neighborhood is so new that most of the trails aren't finished. I enjoyed running through both Travis and Burnet counties - and was a little surprised of 1). running "fast" and 2). there being actual ICE on the sidewalk.

Since I was going to be going to Heather's house anyway, we made plans to go to Bastrop to walk around town. Per Heather's recommendation, we went to the bakery. So much sugar!!

We went into a bunch of shops, but nothing really sparked my interest. I'm glad we got this picture though.

Me and Lisa

Lisa drove me to Heather's so we could get to the expo before it closed. We cut it a little close, arriving just before 4:30, with it closing at 5. At least it wasn't busy. The below picture is maybe one of two dozen o me and Heather even though we have been friends for nearly 20 years...

The swag bags for 3M are nuts. It was definitely going to be a challenge figuring out how to fit all of it in my tiny bag.

Even with my run in the morning and walking around town, I still was a little short on my steps, so I spent part of the evening trying to play with Stallone. He was confused as to what I was doing.

Sunday (30,046 steps) - Austin 3M half marathon, recap to follow.

The girls picked a restaurant for brunch. I finally warmed up after a few cups of coffee and very spicy (shocking to me) Caliente Biscuit breakfast.

We got dropped off at Heather's car and basically by the time we got back to her house I was getting a message that Lisa and Ariel would be there shortly to pick me up. We went to get more Mexican food (a delicious plate of enchiladas from Guadalajara).

Since I'd already had a margarita at brunch, I figured I might as well get a beer on my way to the airport. We wanted to hit up the brewery, but the road was closed, so we went to a small "watering hole." 

We were flying out of the south terminal, which only has a few gates, so we didn't need to get there quickly. The flight was not full and we had to board outside (hence the selfie - it's not often we board outside).

The flight was uneventful and I read the whole flight since for some reason Netflix won't let me download anything to my phone??

Monday (10,132 steps) - Work from home. Ariel and I got Dunkin for breakfast. I did laundry and otherwise, a boring day. Took Olive for a walk to the lake and it was more muddy than I would have liked.

Met Ben at Parry's and Ariel came down after she got out of practice to join us for pizza. Ben and I took Olive for a walk when we got back because I hadn't hit my steps yet. Rest days (especially when I am at home) are hard sometimes to get that pesky 10,000.

Stats:

• 106,649 steps
• 17.32 miles run
• 0 minutes of cardio
• 0 minutes on strength

Brownville Freedom Run Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Brownville, NE
Monday, July 4
Half Marathon #37
State #32/50
Weather - HUMID, Overcast, 70s

The Brownville Freedom Run Half Marathon was picked because it was relatively close to home and because it fell ON the 4th of July. The race looked super small - I mean all the results for the last few years are still listed on their main page. We even convinced L's boyfriend to join us - he had a good chance of placing top three if he raced well.

The trip obviously begins with a super long road trip. We had just done this drive a few weeks earlier when we raced in Iowa, but we wanted to get to bed earlier. We headed out just after 9:00. Quick stop at Starbucks and we were on our way. The drive to Nebraska is SUPER long and SUPER boring. Not much to say about it. We stopped and had lunch in North Platte at a Subway. We made great time and arrived at our Best Western in Nebraska City at dinner time. There was NO Applebee's within 40 miles, so we hit up Valentino's, an Italian buffet.

It was a little loud in the restaurant, but the food was fantastic.

On the left is S'mores pizza. Every pizza place should have that

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, changed into our swimsuits and sat in the hot tub for a bit. After a quick shower, I was ready for bed. I'd been taking muscle relaxers all day because my neck has been sore and one of the side effects is it makes me SLEEPY. I was in bed before 10:00.

Alarm goes off early, just after 5:00 am. We have an extra person that has to get ready so we needed to allow a little extra time. Not to mention we had to drive over 20 miles to the start via detour since the main roads were STILL closed from flooding. We were on the road by 5:50, and thanks to the modern technology of GPS, we didn't get lost. It WAS very foggy on our drive in, and a deer even ran in front of the car! Fog=Humid. Not looking forward to the head and the humidity.

We arrive in Brownville with just over 30 minutes until the race is to start. We were able to park just a few blocks from the start/finish area and got our bibs and t-shirts in just a few minutes. Quick stop at the port-o-potty and then drop off all our stuff at the car before the race. One more trip to the bathroom and then the next thing we know, it's time to start.

Thanks to the flooding the course had to be changed. We were no longer running a relatively flat trail run along the river. Instead we would be running on state highways. And they were NOT flat. I suck at running in the humidity. I grabbed a bottle of water at the start line and headed out. Slowly. I had driven the first mile of the course on the way into town and knew it was intense. Yep, I had to walk two different sections in the first mile. Not a good sign.

The first aid station was at the 5K turnaround, bottled water only. I definitely needed the water. And then we were out in the open on what some people probably call "rolling hills." It sucked. It was hot, humid, and hilly. And my stomach was giving me problems. I already knew that there were no bathrooms on the course but I figured I could hold it.

Next aid station at the 10K turn around - bottled water and Gatorade. I started running again and knew I was in trouble. Emergency bathroom stop - no where to go but into the corn... Without too much TMI - my sparkle skirt/shorties are NOT the best items to be wearing in an emergency bathroom situation. And corn husks work just fine for toilet paper :(

Feeling a tad bit better and I head back out. The two older men I had been chasing were not pretty far ahead of me, and no one was behind me. I had a sinking feeling that I was at the tail end of the pack. So hot. So tired. So done with this race. The hills are killing me. Who would have thought that Nebraska would be so hilly??

4+ miles in - STILL FOGGY

Isn't Nebraska interesting??

Next aid station was around the 5 mile marker when we were entering the town of Nemaha. Another super tiny town with a main street decorated with flags. I finally catch sight of the faster runners heading back. I wish that was me. Keep going. Have I mentioned that it is HOT??? I see R outside the town, he gives me a high five. I see L just a few minutes later.

We cross over a bridge, and then I can finally see the turnaround point. An aid station is there and a timing clock. Wow, I am going REALLY slow. I take some Gatorade and re-evaluate my strategy for the second half. I start to jog and my stomach starts aching again. Damn it.

Bridge of Nemaha River

Another stop, but this time it's just off the road by the bridge. Not feeling well.

I actually do see a few people are still behind me, if I look half as tired and worn out as them... One of the runners I see is a little kid, he can't be more than 10 years old. He didn't look good at all.

Entering town of Nemaha - See all the runners in front of me? No? Exactly.

Just. Keep. Moving. I am hot. Tired. Walking a lot. Stop at the aid station just outside Nemaha, and then there is yet another gigantic hill. How. How can the entire course be all uphill? The course is not closed to traffic and some of the vehicles are getting dangerously close. It really sucks to be running a super small race and be alone. It's dangerous.

My stomach is still not feeling right. The aid station at the 10K turnaround is in the middle of yet another huge hill. As soon as I am at the top of the hill I start eyeballing where I can go to the bathroom. I have to cross the road and head back into the corn. I'm so sweaty I have a hard time getting my shorties back up, and after I'm back running it takes about a quarter of a mile before I realize I have corn husks stuck in my clothes. Sigh.

More. Hills.

When I finally see the 5K turnaround aid station I know two things. One - I am ALMOST back. Finally. And Two - the rest of the course is downhill. FINALLY.

So I start to run. And it feels GREAT to be able to do that. I ran the fastest I have run in ages. And it felt good. I finally see the entrance to the town, and it looks like the race is over. There are people wandering around in front of the "chute." I see L standing to the side of the finish arch, and I cross.

Immediately I realize that there is no one at the end handing out medals. I see L and she doesn't have one either. We have been BAMBOOZLED. All information we had seen says that there are participation medals. They have been bragging on their website about the awesome medal design. Apparently only the top 3 in each division gets one. Which in a race this small is probably half the people running. I am not happy.

Grab a bottle of water and a banana, do our obligatory picture, and we angrily head back to the car. I know a medal is not EVERYTHING, but I really thought I was getting one.

L and Me - I'm getting chubby and my skirt is obviously not on right

R and L - We were the only ones dressed patriotically!

Garmin Time - 2:25:28 (Second slowest ever)
Garmin Distance - 13.15 miles
Garmin Pace - 11:03
Mile 1 - 10:46
Mile 2 - 10:27
Mile 3 - 10:56
Mile 4 - 12:11 (Corn trip #1)
Mile 5 - 10:33
Mile 6 - 10:33
Mile 7 - 11:16 (Corn trip #2)
Mile 8 - 11:21
Mile 9 - 11:27
Mile 10 - 11:44
Mile 11 - 12:35 (Corn trip #3)
Mile 12 - 11:27
Mile 13 - 8:49 (I was RUNNING!!)
Mile 13.1 - 7:58 (Energy from somewhere for a big finish!)

BAMBOOZLED. No medal :(

So, it was about a 30 minute drive back to the hotel. We had to all shower and pack. Check out just before 11:00 am. Ironically we someone in the parking lot wearing the race shirt. He wasn't wearing a medal. We start the long drive back.

We don't stop for lunch for a few hours, but see a sign for an Applebee's. BACON CHEESEBURGER AND FRIES!!! Best lunch ever. I continue to drive until we have to stop and get gas in North Platte. The rest of the drive is done by R (L can't drive a stick). I managed to doze off, so the second half of the drive went by pretty fast. We arrive back in the metro area around 6:30.

Longest. Weekend. Ever.

What have I learned from this race? I need to boycott racing in the summer. I am too delicate and fragile for the heat and humidity. Bleh.

See Jane Run Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Boise, ID
Saturday, June 18
Half Marathon #36
State #31/50
Weather - Mostly Sunny, Upper 50's/Low 60's

Like many of the less populated Midwestern states, Idaho doesn't have a huge selection of races to choose from. So of course when I saw that there was the See Jane Run half marathon that promotes running for chocolate and champagne, I could hardly say no!

This was going to be our FASTEST out of state marathon yet. And by fastest, I mean time gone, not speed of our running :D

As I've said, L can't miss any work, so we booked the absolute latest flight out of Denver to Boise. That meant a 9:20 departure. So we were able to stop at an Applebee's about ten minutes from the airport. You will be shocked to know I *did* order a bit differently.

Can't tell what I did different? I don't normally order a salad and I got my dessert without whipped cream. See?? I'm not a complete freak. I sometimes do stuff different...

We got to the airport in plenty of time. While we were in line to board, I noticed the lady in front of me wearing a marathon shirt. I asked her if she was racing in the morning and she was. We talked a few minutes about racing and then she asked if we were Maniacs. We said no, but we were Fanatics and of course she knew what we meant. Our flight was full but left only a few minutes late and actually landed early. I had managed to book a hotel just minutes from the start line, so even though we didn't get there until almost midnight, we could still get close to 6 hours sleep. Definitely an improvement over last week.

So a funny thing about the hotel... I no longer use credit cards, so I was expecting to put down a cash deposit. I swear the guy behind the counter looked at me like I was an alien and instead of cash he must have thought I was offering a deposit in old stamps or Euros. He stuttered a bit, asked if I planned on using any "incidentals" and when I said "no," he told me not to worry about the deposit. Does that mean cash is no longer accepted? Anyway.

Managed to get ready and into bed by 12:15. I didn't fall asleep right away, but I certainly slept better than I have in ages. I was not eager to get out of bed when the alarm went off at 6:10 though. We got dressed and headed out to the start of the race. We knew the general vicinity of the start, and luckily we ran into a few people and managed to get to the right place. We still had to pick up our chips (actually one of those ankle bracelets) and our bibs and goodie bags. We made a quick trip to the bathroom (one that flushed and had sinks!!) and then went to drop off our bags. Only... there were no volunteers. We asked at registration, got the comment that they were short on help. Ten minutes later no one came by and the volunteers still didn't seem to care. With 20 minutes to go we finally snagged a Sharpie off a vendor's table, wrote our number on the bag and left it under the table, hoping for the best. Sigh.

We headed in the general area of the start line, hoping to to use the bathroom one more time. I spotted the champagne glasses we would be getting at the end... Under strict guard of volunteers of course:

Quick stop at port-o-potty, and we decided we would just watch the 80's aerobic style warm-up:

And got in some awesome pictures at the start line:

See. Us. Run.

FYI. The See Jane Run series is very... happy and cheery and friendly and WOO HOO GIRL POWER and uplifting. I found it a bit disturbing... (Sorta kidding, the race as a whole was pretty fabulous, I'm just not that type of person/runner). Anyway.

We stood in the corral waiting to start, and we saw the lady from the airport. Wearing a Marathon Maniac shirt... The race actually started RIGHT ON TIME, which I like. I felt pretty good at the start and as is the usual practice, I no longer look at my pace when I run. I do, however, check my watch when I feel like I've been running a really long time and may have missed a mile marker. I figured I'd be in trouble when I looked for the first time at .64 miles. Sigh. Going to be a long race.

The course was FANTASTIC. After a lot of races that aren't too interesting or are just run through busy city streets, it was great to run in a park and through fancy neighborhoods.

Somewhere around Mile 1

I was pacing pretty decent the first few miles, but was already dreading the aid stations being so far apart (every two miles). I was feeling pretty tired pretty early. But not in a "I can't run" sense, just my right quad seemed a bit tight and I just felt... exhausted. Good news is that I haven't had any ankle pain and I'm not sick for the first time in ages. Just... tired. Anyway, I did sub-ten splits for the first three miles. Then it started to go downhill.

Around mile 3

Around mile 5

Somewhere around mile 3 we left the beautiful park we had been running through and entered this "open" space area. We were still on a path, but it just started making me tired. My pace slowed considerably. I made it until mile 5 before I took my first unplanned walk breaks. Bleh. Discouraging. I haven't had a sub 2:10 half marathon since NYC, and I was really hoping this one would be it. Not my day... also not a race I want to walk, so I talk myself out of the pity party and start jogging.

There was a straight area of the course where I could see about a half mile in front of me. I picked out a few "rabbits" I planned on chasing for the remainder of the race.

Before we even hit mile 7 I was feeling better. My legs felt better and I wasn't struggling as much. Still running slower than I wanted, but didn't feel as bad. And we got back to a much better looking part of Boise! We got to run through some pretty nice neighborhoods.

Mile 7-8

We stayed in the neighborhoods until just past mile 8. One of my slowest aid stations because I was trying to down a GU while holding a cup of water in one hand a cup of Gatorade in the other. Not as easy as you might think...

We did a turn around under a road and then we were back on a path. Only this path sucked. About 1.5 miles were on this torn up asphalt. I hate running on that type of surface. I know I was running slower because I was being careful. Even walked a bit just before mile 9. Grr.

Finally around mile 10 we got back on the paved path and we were running back by the Boise river. Also running pretty fast and high (like it had been in Wyoming and Nebraska).

Boise, ID

I had only caught one of my rabbits, and because I walk the aid stations, it was a back and forth game with the other two. I was determined NOT to let the last part of this race suck. I forced myself to keep moving and to move a bit faster. I started passing some of the people that I had been chasing. I started feeling better and decided to kick into high gear the last mile. I beat most of the people I had been following (except two ladies in Canyonlands shirts), which is better than nothing. And I beat my mid-race goal of 2:15. Yay!

Official Time - 2:13:56
Official Pace - 10:14
Overall - 177/531
Division - 42/122
Garmin Time - 2:13:56
Garmin Distance - 13.14 miles
Garmin Pace - 10:11
Mile 1- 9:34
Mile 2 - 9:52
Mile 3 - 9:39
Mile 4 - 10:24
Mile 5 - 10:18
Mile 6 - 10:44
Mile 7 - 10:26
Mile 8 - 10:22
Mile 9 - 10:51
Mile 10 - 10:05
Mile 11 - 10:13
Mile 12 - 10:25
Mile 13 - 9:38
Mile 13.1 - 9:20

Finisher!

I found L immediately and we walked around to see the goodies. There wasn't really any food we were interested in, but we made our way over to the Running Skirts booth to say hi. This was probably the first race EVER where I haven't seen someone in a running skirt. I couldn't believe it! We then got our picture taken at the Degree booth - AND printed while we waited!

We headed over to the unmanned bag drop and found our bag - SCORE! We got our glasses, drank our champagne, and headed back to the hotel:

Downtown Boise

We had a few minutes to spare so we changed into our swimsuits and then headed to the hot tub where we soaked for 10-15 minutes. Super quick shower and we were in the lobby at 11:40 to catch our shuttle to the airport. We were delayed a few minutes by the parade:

But at least we got to see something in Boise!

Arrived at the airport in plenty of time to grab a burger, and our on-time flight left at 1:35.

Now that I am home, can you believe that NOTHING WENT WRONG????